


A King with no Claim

by MSRiington



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-30 01:11:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MSRiington/pseuds/MSRiington
Summary: Young peasant boy William wants to become a King. The only problem is, he has no claim to any of the 9 kingdoms. Is that going to stop him? Nope.





	1. Chapter 1

"Send them in!" A loud voice echoed through the courtyard as a group of heavily armored guards dragged two struggling figures into the middle of the stony square. 

Hundreds of people gathered around to see what the commotion was all about. Many of them pushed and shoved each other to get a better view of the two men being dragged in, but the guards blocking them prevented them from getting any closer. The guards holding their prisoners picked up their pace, which must have caused a bit of uneasiness to the two prisoners as they struggled some more. But their efforts were answered by clubs bashing against their backs. The King awaited the guards in the middle of the courtyard. He was surrounded by Sir Reed, an upstart knight who was responsible for the capture of one of the prisoners, and his squire, who's name escaped the King. It mattered not, as they were both to be well taken care of when the execution was over. Also next to him was his advisor Qualm. A novice mage, but his advice was always sound, and has backed the King out of some diplomatic messes numerous times.

The King took a good look at the crowd that had formed. "The kingdom of Hera." So bloodthirsty. As soon as they heard news of an execution, they flocked in like vultures. Desperate to see blood, especially the blood of an Orc. When Sir Reed had informed him that they have captured an Orc, The news excited him. The War may have been over for five years, but it ended with both the Orc Kingdom of Thälmud, and Hera dropping out. There was no official treaty, and there was definitely still some bad blood. 

Finally the wait was over as the two prisoners were finally nearing the courtyard and the King got a good look at them. There was a big muscular figure who’s skin was a subtle mixture of green and brown. He was wearing raggedy clothes and had a noticeable amount of cuts and bruises on the surface of his skin. The jailers must have had some fun with him. The other prisoners presence confused the King. He didn’t remember ordering for anyone else to be brought for execution. This fellow was rather short and scrawny. He had on worn, black leather clothing and was easily being held by two guards, rather than the six holding down the orc. They both had Burlap sacks covering their face. As they passed the gates, the crowd was getting riled up. They were tossing stones and rotten food at the orc's direction. Yelling out profanities as the guards were working tirelessly to keep them at bay. Some of the stones managed to hit the other prisoner as well. This aggravated him as he started lashing out. The guards holding him struggled to keep him still, so they bashed their clubs at him until finally he calmed down. Soon they were at the middle of the courtyard and they were knocked into the ground at a bowing position. With the approval of the King, the sacks were removed from both of the prisoners, starting with the orc. 

His face was enough to give even the bravest men nightmares. A brownish shade of green. His eyebrow muscles were protruded in a way that made anger his default look. His eyes were two different colors. His left eye was white as snow, with a scar intersecting vertically down to the top of his cheek. The right eye was a bloody red color, with no pupils, which seemed to be its natural color. His head was shaven on the sides but left a small layer of black hair on the top that was tied in a ponytail. His mouth was just as grotesque. Always chapped lips, with two tusks protruding from the bottom jaw upwards. When the Orc finally regained his eyesight, he gave the king a look, of intense anger, and snarled, revealing less large but equally frightening canines in his top jaw.

The other prisoner's sack was removed, revealing a less impressive sight. A boy who couldn't be any less than fifteen. His face was covered in freckles, and his hair was a messy curly. He squinted and blinked in an obnoxious way as his eyes were adjusting to the light. When he regained his eyesight, he looked at The King. An old man adorned in precious furs and silks, surrounded by his king's guard, soldiers covered head to toe in sparkling gold. The thought of such made the boy give a mocking smile and scoff loudly at the King's direction. 

"A boy?" The king said in disbelief. his deep voice housed the sound of privilege, but also undisputed authority. "Why is there a boy in my presence? We have more important matters." 

"I requested that he be brought here today." Qualm said in his raspy voice. "He was caught stealing spellbooks from my personal library." his tone changed to that of a victim. Something that made the boy really annoyed, and he visually expressed it by rolling his eyes in an obvious manner. 

"Hm, very well then. We'll deal with him later, but on to the orc." The King gave the Orc a mocking look. "Speak Orc. What is your name?" 

The Orc just looked around and growled at his audience, causing the guards surrounding the King, to feel uneasy. 

"The Ruler of Hera, King Reiner the third of his name is speaking to you Orc!" Sir Reed yelled. "You will address him, and you will do it with honor to his name!" 

"Hmph. Hera huh?" He said with boredom. His voice so deep, everyone in the courtyard could feel its vibrations in their stomach. "Now it all makes sense." 

"Your name Orc!" King Reiner said impatiently.

"My name is Gjörn." 

The crowd grumbled to themselves at the sound of his name. Sir Reed glanced at the King and Qualm, who both looked uneasy at the mention of the name. 

"A-and, Do you know why you're here? Gjörn?" Reiner asked, trying to mask the intimidation he was feeling.

"I must have ventured too far from home. Into enemy territory." 

"That’s right. The War of Green and Pink is still fresh on the citizens of Hera's minds. You Orc's have yet to pay for the many crimes you committed against humani-"

"Don’t get all high and mighty with me Pinkskin!" Gjörn yelled. The sudden outburst caused many in the crowd to jump in fear. And his uproar filled the courtyard like thunder. "How many times were we hunted down like animals? How many of our young have you killed? How many expecting mothers were cut down at the belly by your so called 'humanity'-" Before he could finish, Sir Reed had pulled on the chain wrapped around Gjörn's neck, causing him to fall backwards. Reed then placed his foot over Gjörn's face, and pressed down hard with it." 

"You will address our King with respect. You hear me?" Sir Reed said through gritted teeth. 

"That's enough Sir Reed." King Reiner ordered. "He will get what was coming to him." The King then turned his attention back at the boy. "You! What is your name boy?" 

"William, your grace." the boy answered with a mocking smile. His voice was still prepubescent, which annoyed Reiner.

"Just William? No family name?" The King asked, in a tone more calm than he was with the Orc. 

"I'm not high-born, does it matter?" the boy asked, sarcastically. 

"No, I suppose it doesn't." The king looked over at Qualm, who was awfully aggravated with the boy. "Don’t you think a case for stealing could have been handled a different time. We are going to use this Orc as a scapegoat, but he's ruining the tone of the execution." 

"I understand that your grace, but he did a lot more than try to steal my books. He also killed my most trusted servant." 

King Reiner looked at the William with disbelief. "Is this true, boy?"

William gave a toothy smile. "He was screaming for The Watch, I didn’t want to get caught."

The king looked disturbed. "Are you saying you have no regret for taking a man's life?" 

William just shrugged his shoulders. "My only regret is that I didn’t get to cut his throat a little sooner, then I wouldn't have to be here listening to you all quarrel like old women." 

This bold statement shocked the king, and the rest of the crowd. Even Gjörn was having a hard time believing the courage this boy had to say such things. The crowd started yelling for the boy's demise.

"Devil child!"

"Give him the axe!"

"Don’t let him grow old!" 

"Silence!" The king shouted. "Let us not lose sight on what we are really here for." As the crowd settled down, he faced William again, this time with a harsher tone. "Why did you steal the books boy?" 

"Because I wanted to learn magic. It's going to be useful for when I'm a king one day." 

With those words, the entire courtyard was silent with confusion. "Is this boy serious?" one asked. "what claim does a lowborn have to the crown?" another asked.

The king just stared at him, trying to see if he was kidding. William's face was unchanging, he still looked as confident as when he said it. Breaking the silence, King Reiner burst into laughter. This was followed by Qualm, and then Reed. Soon the King's guard and then the entire courtyard. Everyone was laughing up a storm. 

"You stupid boy!" Qualm said in between fits of laughter. "ignoring the heretical statement. Bahahaha! Those books are written in the ancient Magi language, and only those who know it can reap the spells written in the text." 

William just rolled his eyes, and looked over at the Orc, who was also chuckling a bit. He couldn't say he felt sorry for him, but he did know that he was the best chance out of this mess.

"Hey, Orc." William said while everyone was still busy laughing. Gjörn Just gave William a curious look. "If I get you out of those chains, do you think you could get us out of here?" 

Gjörn looked around at the guards. If he got his hands on a weapon, he could possibly take out most of the guards. A big number would likely be charged with escorting the king to safety. He then looked around the courtyard. There were wooden structures all around where archers were stationed.

"Those archers will be a problem." Gjörn answered, humoring the unfeasible situation.

"I'll take care of the archers. You focus on these guards." William said, with unwavering confidence.

"How exactly do you plan on getting these chains off?" 

William smiled and started spinning his hands rapidly. With each spin, his hands turned into a bluish color. Soon snowflakes started falling from his fingertips. Qualm recognized the hand movements but before he was able to catch on, it was too late.

The chains around William's hands froze. And he was able to pull them apart, shattering them like weak glass. He then shot a concentrated frost blast at Gjörn's chain. With one mighty shake, Gjörn was free. Soon the laughter in the courtyard was replaced by screams of terror. 

"Let's get out of here, Orc." William said with a devilish smile. 

Gjörn just gave him a smirk. "Alright, let's get on with this!"


	2. Chapter 2

Before the king's guards could react, Gjörn bull rushed the group. Causing one of them to drop a great-sword. Gjörn picked it up and began hacking at the guards, as King Reiner, who was being shielded by them, began to scream for help. William took this opportunity to sneak behind Qualm, who was trying to get a clean shot at the orc with his magic, and steal a curved dagger he had sheathed at the back of his robes. 

"That little runt!" Qualm yelled, before being knocked off his feet by a guard Gjörn tossed. 

William ignored him and ran straight towards the wooden structure. He could see them getting in formation, bows strung, all of them aiming at the Orc

"No you idiots!" Qualm screamed. "The king is still here, are you going to kill him too?" 

When they heard that, they loosened their aim. This gave William enough time to climb the ladder. One of them spotted him but he received a dagger to the neck before he could pull his short-sword out. The archers weren't wearing any armor, which was good for William. The dagger must have been a gift from the King to Qualm, because it was made of some high quality steel that cut through the archers like butter. Quickly, he made his way around the structure, stabbing them in vital areas and moving on as they fell helplessly to the floor coughing up their own blood.

"I think I'm gonna keep this dagger when I'm done." William said with a smile on his face, as he sliced an archer at his kneecap, making him fall to one knee, where he received deep stab in the belly. The blood soaked William's hand, the warmth of it making his smile even wider. 

Sir Reed was among the guards trying to put Gjörn down. They all surrounded the Orc, looking for an opening. Whenever one of them approached, Gjörn would swing the sword with a force that could cut them in half. Even if they managed to block the swing with their shield, the force would still knock them off their feet. Finally Reed found the courage to move in, and his sword clashed with the Orc's. For a minute, they were in a strength contest, trying to push on their sword to force the other one off balance. Reed could feel he was losing the struggle, as his sword was getting closer and closer to his face.

"Now!" He yelled as another guard swung his sword at Gjörn's head. He would have succeeded in tagging the orc, had an arrow not flown into his head, knocking him sideways. Both Gjörn and Reed looked up at the structures, and saw William, with a bow in-hand, surrounded by the corpses of the archers. "I've got to take care of the boy." Reed said to himself, as he retreated from the struggle, and ran towards the structure, while the rest of the guards charged in on Gjörn before he could take another swing at Reed.

"Come Rodrick!" Reed called to his squire, who was shielding the King from any harm. "We have to kill that boy."

"Sir Reed, do you mean to leave me defenseless?" King Reiner objected." 

"There are five guards on the Orc. Guards who have sworn an oath to protect you, I'm sure they could keep him at bay while we kill the boy."

William saw that the King was no longer being guarded, so he tried to seize the opportunity and took aim at Reiner with his bow. Before he could let the arrow loose, Sir Reed charged at him. William barely managed to dodge Reed's swing, and wildly shot an arrow at The King. The arrow hit the Tip of Reiner's crown, knocking it off his head, and scaring him into taking cover.

"Qualm!" Reiner yelled. "Why aren't you doing anything." 

"Because, my King, my magic is very dangerous and to use it now could put your life in danger. I'm waiting for you to be evacuated before I dispose of these pests."

"Buggers," William said with a smile. "You made me miss." 

"That’s enough fooling around, Boy. You face a knight now." Sir Reed said, with his sword aimed at William's chest. "For crimes against Hera, and the King, I sentence you to death." With those words, Reed sliced at William, who easily ducked out of the way. William never liked armor, plate armor. It never protected your well, especially since Reed wasn't wearing his helmet, but it also slowed you down, which was very apparent here, as William was dancing around Reed. Finally he managed to get behind him and was about to slice his neck, when he felt something hit him in his jaw, which knocked him back. 

"Huh?" He thought as he held his jaw in pain and anger and realized it was Reed's squire who delivered the blow." 

"Good work Rodrick." Reed said proudly as he swung his sword over his head. "Time to end this." 

Gjörn was still fighting off the guards and managed to kill three of them, when he noticed what was happening on the structures, he grabbed one of the guards by the back of the head, and threw him into the middle pillar that was keeping the structure together. 

William was still a bit dizzy from the blow, but he could feel the structure crumbling and himself losing footing. First, Rodrick fell off, than Reed, landed on his back, on top of him. So William let himself fall and purposely landed on Sir Reed with his elbow, making him groan loudly. William rolled off of him, and ran a few feet away, knife in hand, trying to recover.

"Sir Reed, get over here and escort me to safety!" The king yelled, as he realized that his numbers were shrinking drastically. 

"Yes, my lord." Reed groaned and both him and his squire rushed to the King."

"I'm not letting you get away that easily!" Gjörn yelled as he cut the last guard down. He then rushed over to the King but was subsequently stopped as he felt his muscles tighten and he fell forward. He slowly turned over to Qualm, who had electrical bolts stemming from his fingertips.

"You’re pretty strong." Qualm complimented. "This would have been enough to kill a normal man, and the jolt would have sent him flying." He then flicked his wrists, making the sparks jolting on his hand disappear. With a snap of a finger from each hand, his palms burst into flames. "Human or Orc, flesh still burns the same."

He then heard two finger snaps from his left. He turned his head and saw William with flames coming out of his palms. "Is that so?" he asked with a cocky smile on his face. "Well that’s good to know, plus that silk robe you're wearing looks especially flammable."


	3. Chapter 3

"You little runt!" Qualm shouted, as he spewed flames from his hands towards William. William reacted quickly, as he shot flames out of his hands, the fire from both of them clashing together, putting them at a standstill. 

"I don’t know how you managed to decipher those books boy." Qualm said, smiling, as his fire magic was beginning to overpower William's. "But it doesn't matter. I am a descendant of the ancient Magi. Magic is in my blood, and it makes me more powerful than you by default."

William could say nothing back, as he noticed he was losing this clash. Soon, qualms flames had completely overpowered his own, he could see the flames creep towards him as his fingertips were getting hotter and hotter.

"Soon, you'll be nothing more than a burning corpse." Qualm snickered.

Gjörn slowly got up. The effects of the lightning magic wearing off, and his muscles loosening up. He saw the struggle William and the mage were having. Seeing his opportunity, he picked up the great sword, and brought it down on Qualm's right shoulder. The strength of the swing cut all the way down through his ribs. The blow didn't even give the mage a chance to scream, he was dead on impact. As Gjörn pushed the body off, William quickly rushed over to him and searched frantically in his robes. Gjörn could hear the clanking of metal, as a larger number of guards were approaching. 

"Boy, what are you doing?" Gjörn asked impatiently.

"He has to have one." William said, ignoring both the orc's warning, and the dozens of footsteps charging towards him.

"Boy, if we don’t get out of here now, were going to get in a tougher fight."

"I found it!" William jumped up. Holding out something in his hand, triumphantly.

Gjörn just gave him a confused look. It was a tiny, rolled up piece of paper, with a red string tied around it. "What's that?"

"Our ticket out of here orc." He shoved the paper in his pocket, and then bolted to the exit. "Follow me!"

Gjörn just rolled his eyes, and followed. As soon as he exited, a large group of guards stormed the courtyard, only to find dead men.

"Damn them!" The guard in charge of that group yelled. "They couldn't have gone far. Find them!" with his words, most of them dispersed. Save for one, which he pulled in close. "Go inform the guards at the gate. Nobody goes in or out of the city."

"Yes sir!" he yelled, and then sprinted towards his destination. He passed a few blocks before a giant green arm pulled him into an alleyway, and a small one slit his throat. 

"We don’t have long before we get locked in this city." William said. "We're going to have to make a break for it." 

"Are you daft?" Gjörn asked. "There's guards everywhere, and even if we do make it past them, we have to deal with the dozens of archers waiting for us at the gate. And if they close it, we're done for."

"Don’t worry about these guards, their covered head to toe in metal, we'll outrun them easy."

"And the gate archers, what of them?" 

William gave him a toothy smile. "That’s what this is for." He held up the small rolled up paper." 

The two checked to see if the coast was clear, and ran for the gate. The city people were all screaming as they saw Gjörn, charging through the city square. It didn’t take long before they had an army of guards on their tail. Just as William predicted, they were outrunning them. Soon they were approaching the gate, and the guards on their tail were screaming for it to be closed. The gatekeepers, quickly listened and shut it tight. They then trained their bows on William and Gjörn. 

"Boy!" The orc said nervously. "Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!" 

William just grabbed the paper, and unfastened the string. He then unrolled the paper, and started reading it aloud.

"Infernius, Gigantius, Combustio, Venti!" 

The tiny piece of paper started to glow, and then it dissipated into nothing. A fiery veil started to cloak William. It protected him from arrows as the veil singed them like hair. 

"Orc!" William yelled. "You might want to find cover!" 

Gjörn was confused, but he listened, as he didn’t understand exactly what was going on with the boy. He jumped to the side, and covered his head with his hands. Only a handful of soldiers charged at his direction, the rest were now completely focused on William. 

The archers shot at him franticly, but their arrows were useless. William hopped at the gate, as if he was trying to bash it open. Before he smacked into it, he snapped his fingers on each hand. The veil shrink but then immediately combusted, the fiery explosion tearing the gate to pieces, and destroying everything in its path. The explosion was heard throughout the entire kingdom and it startled the King when he heard it. 

"Wh-what was that?" He asked. Eyes still watery from mourning his dead advisor. 

The guards who went after Gjörn were knocked backwards several feet, before falling unconscious. The force of the combustion was even causing the orc to be pushed back, but he held his ground. Finally, when the dust settled, he looked up and saw a giant hole where the gate used to be. There were cracks on the walls around it. There was no sign of the archers protecting it, and the guards chasing him were nothing but piles of burning corpses. Gjorn looked around for William and found him in the middle of a giant burn mark on the ground, lying flat on his back. 

"Don't tell me he killed himself." Gjörn said as he rushed over to the boy. He knelt down and was relieved to find him, still breathing. Gjörn lifted him over his shoulders and ran out of the city, away from the kingdom of Hera.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was starting to beat down on Gjörn now. Having walked for hours on end, holding an unconscious William on his shoulders, and ducking patrols every now and then was starting to take a toll on him. He couldn't just set him down, after all, the boy is unconscious because he pulled a crazy stunt that helped the escape. The least he could do was carry him until he could make it on his own. Gjörn looked around at the countryside. The lush green meadow, with a dense forest just to his left, that would make a perfect escape route, had Gjörn knew how to navigate it. But even if he did, where would he go once he cleared it? He knew he couldn't go back to Thälmud, for he was a deserter, and he didn’t know what lied ahead, past Hera. He felt as if his situation was just getting worse and worse since he left the Orc Kingdom, but there was nothing he could do about it. After he was caught, he was ready to take the execution and be done with everything, but then this boy came along. 

Gjörn just looked off into the meadow, the green leaves peacefully swaying made him momentarily forget about the skirmish he just survived, and despite the heat, he felt at peace. His meditation was soon interrupted by the sound of William snoring on his back.

"Is this little runt sleeping?" Gjörn thought, as the peace he was feeling was soon overshadowed by rage. In a fit of anger, he picked William up and tossed him on the ground, resulting in a loud thud.

"Oof!" William grunted on impact? "Orc! What the hell?" 

"Had a nice nap?" Gjörn asked angrily. "I'm not surprised since I went out of my way to make sure you didn’t die out here in the wilderness. 

"I'm sorry." William said sarcastically as he dusted himself off. "You were surprisingly cozy, despite your rough skin and horrible odor." He looked past Gjörn towards Hera. The castle that towered over the rest of the kingdom was still in view, but it was a considerable distance away. "You got us pretty far away Orc, nice job."

Gjörn just rolled his one functioning eye. "I wasn’t planning on getting us caught, especially after you nearly blew yourself up trying to get us out of there."

William just smirked, but noticed a dramatic change in Gjörn's posture and temperament. He had an angrier than normal face, and was sniffing the air. He could hear the orc growl. 

"Are you fully recovered yet boy?" Gjörn asked, as he pulled the great-sword from his back. 

William started to snap his fingers, but no flames appeared. The same thing happened when he tried to activate his lightning and frost magic.

"After using the scroll, I guess magic is out of the picture, for now. Why?"

"There's two riders, heading this way, they'll be on us in no time."

William rushed to the side of the hill and vaguely saw two figures riding towards them. 

"how did you catch that?" William asked.

"It's Sir Reed, and his squire, I know his stench from a mile away." Gjörn answered. "It would be better if we held our ground, we can't run from them." 

"Oh, I'm not running." William said with a smile on his face, as he caressed the handle of the blade sheathed on his lower-back. 

"There they are. Do you see them?" Sir Reed yelled to his squire, as they both were riding their horses towards the two fugitives. 

"Aye. They didn’t get far." Rodrick said. He wasn't too sure about taking on the orc alone, considering how easily he handled the king's guard. 

"We'll just kill the boy, and bring the orc's head to the king. This is the deed that will decide our future Roddy." With a smile of confidence, Sir Reed, looked on at his targets. "If all goes well, you'll be a knight, come tomorrow."

Rodrick's eyes widened in excitement. The one thing he always wanted in his life was within his grasp. The very reason he left home. All he had to do was take these two down.

"And me, I'll be a Lord. The King will grant me a finer estate than my current one, and I won't have to lift a finger ever again!" Sir Reed kept his eyes on the two fugitives. "Come 'ere ye bastards!" 

With that, the two teared through the earth at William and Gjörn. 

"Get ready." Gjörn warned, as he lifted his sword high. 

The sound of the horses was deafening, as they got closer and closer. William kept his composure, and had his hand firmly on the handle of his blade. Gjörn kept his sword up steadily as Reed was closing in on them. Finally as they were in striking distance, Reed slashed his sword at the orc, who blocked it, while putting enough force behind the swing to knock Reed off of his horse. Rodrick went after the boy, and swung with what William noticed was sloppy form. William casually stepped back, causing the squire to miss, but the momentum of the swing jerked him forward. William, seeing his chance, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off. Rodrick landed on his face, but immediately scrambled to get up. As he turned around to face his adversary, he was floored with a well placed punch to the jaw by William.

"Hurts doesn’t it?" William said confidently, and then he mounted Rodrick and held his knife to his throat. "Move, and they’ll have to sew your head back on your body."

After Reed hit the floor, he quickly got up and pointed his sword in front of him. Gjörn just gave him an uninterested look. 

"Well orc." Reed said between heavy breathing. "Let's go." 

"Not so fast." The two heard William say. They turned around and saw William had the squire by his throat. "Drop the sword, or the squire chokes on his own blood." 

"Just kill him." Gjörn said in an annoyed tone. "I can handle this pretender knight."

"If I remember correctly, you were captured by that pretender." William retorted.

"Him and a dozen men lured me into a rope trap." Gjörn said, with shame in his voice. "I'd kill him in a one-on-one fight." Gjörn looked at his weapon as he said that. The sword was rusting from the journey and had gaps along its edge. It looked as it could break any second.

"Oh will you now?" Reed said confidently, also recognizing the condition of the Orc's blade "How about this, we duel. If I win, the boy lets my squire go, and I'll take both of you back to the castle with your heads intact."

William liked the idea of a duel, but he didn’t want to outright kill the squire. If what Gjörn said was true, then Sir Reed was someone the Squire should be ashamed to call his master, and he wanted to expose him. "Fine, but if the orc wins, he's having both of you for dinner."

Sir Reed's eyes widened in fear, and Gjörn noticed. Orcs don’t eat humans, but the terror Reed was feeling was to humorous for him to pass up. 

"I like eating them raw." Gjörn said sadistically. "Sometimes I keep them alive as I feed on their legs, so they can witness it before they die." 

Sir Reed gave gulped loudly. He looked over at Rodrick who was equally as terrified.

"I do not fear you." He said, trying to shake off his fear. "I am a knight, blessed by the Gods. Surely they will have favor on me." 

"Hmph." Gjörn grunted. "I've heard that from a lot of men, during the War of Green and Pink. They all fell the same." 

Sir Reed could feel his legs shaking, and his throat closing up as the fear started overtaking him.

"Let me tell you my most famous kill. I'm sure you heard of him."

William diverted his attention from his captive, who was too scared to move anyway and listened to what the orc was about to say.

"Sir Richard Brogan."

Sir Reed gasped in disbelief. That’s why the entire courtyard was nervous when they heard his name. Brogan the Mighty was a legend of the war. His death was one that prompted the Kingdom of Hera to withdraw.

"Huh. That makes sense." William said to himself, and then looked back at the squire. 

"You're… you’re lying." 

"I'm not. He and I were rivals of the war. We both held mutual respect for each other. During one of the battles, we faced each other. I lost an eye, but he lost his head." Gjörn slowly walked towards the knight. "Well, what do you say? Do you think you can kill what Brogan the Mighty could not?"

William could notice the grip Reed had on his sword was tightening. His knees looked as they could buckle any second, and the sweat was falling off his head like it had just rained. In a matter of seconds, he dropped his sword and turned around, sprinting away.

"Is that coward really turning tail?" William asked, trying not to laugh.

"No! Sir Reed, what about me?" Rodrick screamed, and began to struggle with William, who just pressed the blade against his neck a little firmer to calm him down.

Reed ignored everything, as he jumped on one of the horses and raced out of there as fast as he could.

"Good job Orc." William said, as he slowly got off the squire, but held him up, still holding the knife at him. "Was that a bluff?"

Gjörn just smiled. "I don’t bluff, he's nothing compared to Brogan the Mighty. Because of that victory, I sport this scar like a badge of honor." He looked at Rodrick, who was close to tears. "What are we going to do with him?" 

William glanced at him. He looked to be about seventeen. Not much older than William, and he knew what he was feeling. Like everything he ever knew was taken from him. "He has nowhere left to go."

"Pardon?" Rodrick asked, with a shaky voice.

"Reed is probably hoping you don’t survive this encounter. You just witnessed him cower out of a fight for the King's honor. He'd likely have you killed before he lets that information get out." William eased the blade away from his throat. "You have no choice, you might as well join us."

"There's an 'us' now?" Gjörn asked sarcastically. 

"What, you have somewhere else to go orc?"

Gjörn just shrugged his shoulders and put his sword on his back. "Fine, I guess." 

"Join you?" Rodrick asked in disbelief. "Are you mad?" 

"Maybe a little." William answered with a toothy smile. 

"You took everything from me! I was to be knighted by tomorrow!" 

Gjörn and William both glanced at each other and then broke out in laughter. Rodrick was already angry, but at this point he was fuming.

"Ok, Rodrick." William said in a mocking tone. "Pick up your sword, and your buckler. If you beat me in a duel, you can go do whatever it is you want." 

Rodrick was in disbelief, but he quickly gathered his weapons and assumed his fighting stance. William looked relaxed, with only his hand on the handle of his sheathed blade. 

"Ready when you are." he said.

Screaming, Rodrick slashed at William, who ducked and spun out of the way. Rodrick quickly backed up, as he knew he left himself open, but William didn’t take advantage of it. Still with his blade unsheathed he ran at the squire. Rodrick pulled his arm back to set up a thrust. The technique was executed so poorly, it caused Gjörn to visibly cringe. As Rodrick thrust his sword forward, William moved slightly out of the way, without losing his stride. He easily passed Rodrick's defenses, and kicked the back of his leg, causing him to kneel forward. This gave William a chance to grab him by his black hair and pull upwards, exposing his neck. William pressed his blade, once again at Rodrick's throat, and he yielded. 

"You would've made a terrible knight." William whispered in his ear. And then he let him go. 

Rodrick just fell at his hands and panted. His anger overtaking him, for the fact that he was unable to defend himself by this… nobody.

"What would you know about knights!" He screamed. "You are just some lowborn trash!" 

William was walking away, but stopped when he heard him. 

" I actually know a lot about knights. My father was one." William turned around and faced him. "My name is William Brogan. Pleased to meet you."


End file.
